Lawmakers should be prudent with budget, taxes, Meacham says

State lawmakers should be conservative in their spending and in their plans to additionally reduce taxes, the state's top budget official said Sunday.

State Treasurer Scott Meacham -- who also serves as Gov. Brad Henry's cabinet secretary for revenue and finance -- urged lawmakers to hold the line on spending increases and new tax cuts during the upcoming legislative session until officials know how the latest round of tax reductions and spending will affect the state's revenue picture.

The Oklahoma Legislature reconvenes in February.

"Our rate of growth has slowed significantly," Meacham said. "And prudence dictates we don't make a lot more commitments; both on revenue reduction and expenditures in this environment."

Lawmakers, Meacham said, have passed major tax cuts and spending initiatives during the past few years and the effects of both just now are being felt.

"At this point, with state revenue slowing down and our spending commitments, we need to assess things. We just enacted the largest tax cuts in state history, we need to see how that will go."

Financial data seems to support Meacham.

November tax revenues, he said, showed "marginal improvement" from October, and failed to meet collections from the prior year.

Additionally, tax records show that net income tax and gross production collections failed to meet the estimate, while sales tax was equal to the estimate.

Preliminary reports indicate general revenue fund collections totaled $403.6 million for the month of November.

That amount, Meacham said, is $27.4 million -- almost 6.5 percent -- below the same month of the prior year and $11.4 million or 2.7 percent below the estimate for the same period.

"It would appear the growth of Oklahoma's economy has slowed," Meacham said in a recent media release. "Compared to the previous month, November's collections have improved -- but only slightly. We hope the (recent) ice storms won't significantly curtail retail spending in the coming days and weeks and our economy will pick up strength."

With the 2008 Legislative session only weeks away, Meacham said lawmakers should take a "conservative approach" with the state's budget.

"We need to be more conservative on both sides," he said. "We've just gone through the highest four years of growth in state history, we're spoiled a little bit."

Meacham's call is drawing support from both Democrats and Republicans.

Last fall, former Governor David Boren -- now the president of the University of Oklahoma -- urged legislators to put a moratorium on future tax cuts.

"I think we ought to have a moratorium on tax reductions right now," Boren, a Democrat, told the Associated Press in September of 2007. "I think we're bumping the limits and I think we certainly don't need to proceed down that path."

Since then, other lawmakers, including Moore Representative Paul Wesselhoft, have taken a "wait and see" attitude about addition revenue reduction.

"Don't get me wrong, I support tax cuts," Wesselhoft, a Republican said. "But I think we need to see what the effect of our recent cuts will be. We need to see the whole picture and what our needs are."

Advice that Meacham supports.

"I believe that soon, we're going to get to a point our rate of growth is not fast enough to keep up with our rate of spending," he said. "And when we hit the point were those two lines cross, we've gotta decide 'where am I gonna cut?' We could be making tough some tough decisions soon, as soon as two years."